Stargate: A New Path
by Stargatefanatic123
Summary: Hanging by her wrists, her body singing with pain, she looked into the eyes of her lover, silently begging for him to free her as well as for him to turn and run before her torment became his. A path had once been laid before her and she'd walked it, not looking back or regretting it for a moment. Rated T for language. John/OC.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I think everyone gets the gist of this now. Outside of my own characters, I own no one and nothing. Admittedly, I'm planning on creating an inter dimensional portal and grabbing all those lovely, hot men from Atlantis! But that's just semantics.

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Okay, this is my PoD story, so please, enjoy the changes and differences. As I've already posted in TiA, my updates will happen once a month as I try and wait for my work to even out. I'm going to be doing my best to post a little more regularly than that, but my plan is to post once a month.

So, a definition of PoD = Point of Divergence. In my mind, for the last few months, I've had two separate story arcs running around in my mind and I finally decided to write another story that would follow the one plot while Tokr'a in Atlantis followed my original one.

A warning, this chapter addresses a part of the reason that Camilla's not always so trusting and free, why she's so guarded with others. Nothing graphic, only mentions, so you have been warned.

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**Chapter 1: Conversion**

One trip through the Gate and a super cautious Carson later, John sighed as he reclined on the stretcher, looking at Carson as the man pressed a hand to the dressing around his forearm. The Scottish doctor had seen his bleeding arm and had promptly ordered him off-duty, put Camilla in control of the Jumper and ordered everyone back to the City.

"This isn't necessary, doc," John told the doctor.

The man shook his head tersely. "Aye, it is," he said. "Ye have a serious laceration in yer arm and ye've lost a good deal of blood."

As far as John was concerned, letting Carson and his men push him to the Infirmary from the Jumper Bay was embarrassing enough, but he knew how much blood he could lose and still be functional. Mostly. He was, however, thankful, that Camilla and her brother had pulled Rodney to one side to deal with a minor 'injury' the man had received on the planet and he sighed, feeling the gurney coming to a halt.

"Alright," Carson muttered. "Let's have a look at this."

He felt the dressing being removed and John tilted his head to look at the damage, frowning slightly at the sight of the blood coating his arm. Even with the dressing applied, the amount of blood the thing could have soaked up wasn't much. There was thin layer of blood clinging to his arm, crusting and flaking already. Carson moved calmly, grabbing a swab and the man held it.

"This may hurt a wee bit," he answered.

A look at the one end not in the doctor's hand told him that it was a medical swab and he shrugged a shoulder. "I'm sure it will," he said.

Carson arched an eyebrow at him as he set to work and John just smiled at the man. While his own pain tolerances weren't anything compared to Ronon's, he still had a high threshold. Watching as Carson swabbed the area before grabbing a large piece of gauze, John calmly waited for the pain to start.

"This doesnae sting?" the doctor asked.

John shrugged a shoulder. He couldn't feel anything of what Carson was doing, but he could move his fingers easily enough.

"No," he answered.

Carson shook his head, sighing. "Well, ah ken ye have a high threshold fer pain, but this…."

The man drifted off and John frowned, looking at Beckett. "But this is what?" he asked.

The Scottish doctor didn't reply and John followed his gaze to his arm and he found his widening slightly at the sight that met him. The blood that had coated the area where Ellia had gotten him was gone. And so was the cut.

"Gone," Carson breathed.

John turned his arm slightly, trying to get a better look, trying to see where the Wraith had managed to bite him. "What?!" he said.

"The feedin' mark," Carson said. "It's completely healed."

Glancing at the man, John knew it had to be a bad thing. Humans didn't heal this fast unless something was messing with their system. He'd felt the pain and he'd seen the blood, knowing it was his own.

A-A-A-A-A-A

Martouf groaned as he raced across the walkways of Atlantis. After Ronon Dex had joined the expedition, the Tok'ra had seen the Satedan taking to running through the explored sections of the City, burning energy that the man had obviously yet to find a new way to vent after years of being a Runner.

In perhaps a subconscious effort to help the man feel more welcome in the City and amoung the members of the expedition, Martouf had taken to joining the man on his daily runs, quickly getting used to the activity. Sheppard had joined a few weeks after Ronon had officially joined and Martouf had kept an eye on everyone's positions.

In general, Ronon was in front, despite Martouf calling on all his enhancements as a Tok'ra. The Satedan usually led the race through the City, Martouf behind him and Sheppard behind the male Tok'ra. Today was different.

After Dr. Beckett had cleared Colonel Sheppard from the Infirmary – albeit with a stipulation of no off-world missions – Martouf and suggested a run as way of trying to calm everyone down after the almost needless deaths of Ellia and Zaddik. Skidding to a halt behind Ronon as they reached the starting point of the running circuit, Martouf doubled over a railing, clinging to it as his heart pounded in his chest.

Sheppard stood, almost completely unaffected of Ronon Dex, the Satedan leaning against one of the metal pillars as he panted for breath.

"I thought you said you were a Runner?" Sheppard commented.

Ronon frowned and Martouf was inclined to mimic the man as he delved into the small pack at the small of his back and drew out a bottle of water. **_This is certainly unusual, _**Lantash muttered. **_Usually by the time we reach this point, the good Colonel is doubled over, rasping for breath and cursing all three of us._**

Martouf nodded slightly. "That's funny," Ronon grumbled as Martouf held out his water to the Satedan, seeing him take it wordlessly.

"I can usually barely keep up with the two of you," Sheppard said. "What's with you?"

Feeling a nudge, Martouf closed his eyes for a moment, feeling Kel'an calmly taking control before Lantash opened his eyes, hearing Ronon grumbling again. "What's with you?" the Satedan managed.

Lantash rolled his eye, shaking his head slightly, 'hearing' Martouf sighing in relief in the back of his mind, the aches in the man's body leaving his consciousness as the symbiote took over control. **"I can assure you, Colonel, that we were not holding back," **he said calmly, easing his host's breathing with ease.

Sheppard just grinned at them. "Ah, you're just both sore losers," he said. "I don't act like a jerk when the two of you beat me."

Lantash arched an eyebrow, taking back the water bottle that Ronon held out to him. "Yes, you do," the former Runner told him.

Sheppard rolled his eyes. "Okay, then we'll go around again."

Lantash did not need to ask his host, he 'heard' the groan that came from the man's thoughts and he shook his head. **"I think not, Colonel," **he said. **"I will not garner any favour with my host if I were to do so."**

Moving to take a step to the nearest stair case that led down from the walkway, Lantash found his eyes widening slightly as he started to limp and he quickly set to work, tenderly healing a strained muscle in Martouf's leg.

"Go ahead," Ronon told the Air Force Colonel as Lantash gripped onto the railings of the staircase and carefully limped down the steps as quickly as he could.

Something had clearly affected the Colonel and Lantash was 'stumped' if he knew what it was.

A-A-A-A-A-A

Cam took a moment to calm her frantically pounding heart as she spun her training bo-staff. Her hands moved calmly, with Kel'an's memories silently guiding them into the correct places. Across from her stood John. The man was covered in a light sheen of sweat, not betraying the fact that they had been sparring for the better part of the night – the two not going to bed at their usual time as John seemed to want to work out more energy than he usually had.

With the man technically off-roster as he waited for Carson's blood tests to come back in, John was no longer in direct control of the City's military wing. Now that they were back in Atlantis, Cam had happily given over her control off-world to Lorne, watching as the man calmly took the new – and temporary – responsibilities onto his already busy workload.

Feeling the warmth of filtered sunlight dancing across her skin, Cam settled herself calmly into a ready stance, watching John as she stretched her bo-staff toward his Bantos rods. While she wasn't as proficient with them as Teyla was, Cam knew the typical salute and she did her best to mimic it as she and John tapped their weapons against each other before they started fighting again.

Using her bo-staff as well as she had known Allina – Kel'an's seventh host after the sixth's short tenure – had often done, Cam reacted, doing her best to disarm the man like she had before. Keeping her feet moving, the female Tok'ra did her best to move forwards and not back, forcing memories to the back of her mind as she fought, doing her best to at least keep John at bay before she ducked under a strong blow that she knew would have landed hard against her cheek.

With her staff resting along her back, Cam looked at the man, arching an eyebrow at him. **_He has certainly gotten better, _**Kel'an commented as she slowly stood up.

Cam hummed as she spun her bo-staff and let it rest against her tattooed upper arm as she looked at the man.

"Not bad, huh?" the man asked, smiling at her even as she watched him, tilting her head as she did so.

Standing straight as she absently kicked the bottom of her staff into motion, Cam nodded. "Yes," she answered. "You're doing remarkably well."

With her back facing the window, Cam twirled her bo-staff before John came at her, attacking quickly as he tested her guard and reflexes. Cam responded in kind, doing her best to land blows, deflecting and defending where she could and attempting to throw in a few jabs, hoping to land blows before John calmly deflected them.

Cam frowned as she found herself relying more and more on Kel'an to keep the fight on level footing, feeling more and more of Kel'an's reluctantly placed block falling to one side as she called on more and more outside experience. Ducking again, Cam spun her bo-staff across her shoulders and into her other hand as she looked warily at John.

_He has gotten better far too quickly, _she told Kel'an. _No one outside of the Tok'ra gets that good, this fast._

Kel'an hummed as Cam heaved in a breath into her starving lungs. "You've been practicing," she commented.

John shook his head. "Not really," he answered as he turned and tossed one of his Bantos rods to one side before he shifted into a ready position facing her.

Cam sighed and stood, changing her grip slightly as she spun her staff into action again before she readied herself, bringing one hand to stop at her hip as the other steadied the rest of the bo-staff in front of her. Taking a breath, Cam felt the last of the blocks on the memories, muscle memory honed by Kel'an unconscious thoughts, and experience from the hosts before her unlock in her mind, the information flooding her senses as she looked at her opponent.

Taking another breath, Cam attacked, spinning the bo-staff in front of her as she ducked down and made to attack at his feet, cursing as John seemed to see her move coming as he leapt back and to one side, out of the path of her attack before he returned the favour, deflecting and dodging her blows from there with painful ease that completely astounded the female Tok'ra.

None of her blows, elaborate or otherwise, had landed and John was stood in front of her, a small smile on his face as he calmly defeated her attacks. Seeing a sudden change in his expression, Cam didn't have any warning when he suddenly came at her, his Bantos rod pressing firmly against her throat, one of his hands on her shoulder as he pushed.

Gasping in shock as the exposed skin at the small of her back came into sudden contact with a cold wall, Cam took in a steadying breath as she looked at John, her eyes wide as she found memories just starting to skitter in front of her eyes.

"You've gotten better in a considerably short amount of time…Colonel Sheppard," she said.

The man stood in front of her, his intent gaze on her, wasn't a man she knew. The Colonel Sheppard she knew was a lot like Jack, the man a bit of a teasing, laughing presence that seemed to think that their plans would always work out in the end – ignoring any possible changes to said plan that might happen.

As much as she found herself flushing slightly at the intent gaze, she watched as he tilted his head as he continued to look at her. "You can call me John when we're off the clock," he told her calmly.

Cam felt her eyebrows lifting at that, even as she nodded – this man in front of her wasn't anyone she knew and she wasn't about to provoke him. "Of course, John," she said carefully.

His gaze was still intent on her, his eyes dark as he watched her, even as the beginning of a small smile drifted across his face. He didn't say anything and Cam swallowed reactively, slowly.

_Kel'? _she asked quietly.

She hated that even her own, mental, voice sounded so very weak and shaken, but Kel'an soothed her nerves calmly, pushing the memories to one side. **_I'm here, _**her symbiote replied, her tone easing her panic. **_I'm here and I won't let anything happen to you._**

"Keep yourself focused on me," Colonel Sheppard told her, jostling her shoulder lightly and Cam winced at that, her mind jostled out of the safety of her friend. "Only on me."

Only one other had employed such a method – albeit not so 'nicely' – and the memories started to creep back in. The short burst of pain faded and the Tok'ra looked at him.

"Should we continue, or do you…?" Cam asked him, forcing herself to not let herself be dragged into the world of memories, even as she found her voice trailing off.

Kel'an was old and she had had a host of hosts before her and Cam had not been lying to Ford at what she had told him all those months ago. The Tok'ra had almost eidetic memories and remembered everything and Cam recognised the look that now stood clear as day on Colonel Sheppard's face. Before she could do anything, before she could fight or talk her way out of his grip, he'd tossed his remaining Bantos rod to one side before gripping her head firmly in his hands and pulling her close to her. He was kissing her and Cam was frozen.

His mouth was slanted hungrily over hers, demanding an answer as her frozen mind was suddenly assailed by images and memories and pain she'd never wanted to see again. A sob left her as she struggled, flailing in his arms.

She couldn't tell if she was struggling against the memories or John Sheppard, the man who was pressing his body hard against hers and she finally reacted, pushing him away with another sob. Completely forgoing any decorum or care, she raced passed him and out the door, running blindly as she relied on Kel'an to move her away from the source of her fears.

She didn't know how far she ran, leaving the gym behind her, but Cam stopped at a corner and just slid to the floor, the wall at her back as she sobbed. Not for the first time in her life, Cam cursed her eidetic memory as she rocked herself, her arms tight around her knees. The sights, the sounds, the pain and the smells of that horrible day played back to her, the memories overwhelming her as she struggled to control her body.

She shook worse than a leaf as the remembered pain tore through her, drawing quiet whimpers from her as she fought to lock the memories away. She screamed when she felt hands on her upper arms and she sobbed harder as she struggled weakly against the grip of whoever held her, even as the memories slowly started to clear.

It took time and when the memories cleared, Cam sobbed as two things quickly became clear to her. First, that Kel'an was doing her best to soothe her, the memory pain fading under gentle, soft, nerve touches of her friend. The second was that both Jonas and Danny were crouched in front of her, Jonas' hands held open and in front of her, no longer gripping her arms.

"What happened?" she heard Danny whisper and that was enough to draw another whimper from her as she started to cry again.

The last time she had broken, Jonas had waited for her to lean towards him before reacting, now, with more knowledge of her, Jonas reacted immediately, leaning forwards in his crouch and drawing her close to him.

Well aware of the fact that Kel'an had likely locked down all of her strength, Cam just clung to the Kelownan as tightly as she could, muffling her sobs into his shoulder.

A-A-A-A-A-A

Holding Camilla against him as she cried, Jonas stood carefully and slowly, doing what little he could to not startle his friend. Dr. Witcker stood up slowly beside him, her face creased in worry as she looked at the woman in his arms. As little as Jonas had been friends with her, he knew that Dr. Witcker had become Camilla's friend and he sighed, turning slightly.

"Let's get her to her office," he told the red haired woman. "I'll explain there."

With an arm wrapped carefully around Camilla's shoulders, he easily led her down the thankfully deserted corridors towards her office. Taking a breath, Jonas remembered the last time he had come across Camilla crying like she was now.

He'd been on Earth for a short while after Dr. Jackson's death and he'd entered the SGC's infirmary, intent on speaking with Dr. Fraiser about something he'd read when he'd seen the young woman crying quietly in her medical bed, a wreck from her nightmares. She'd barely trusted him then, but had relaxed in his presence enough to seek the comfort of an innocent hug. Now, with a few more years of knowing how the woman reacted, Jonas knew that something had happened to cause the memories to resurge quicker than Kel'an could possibly block.

Nodding to the sensor by the office door, the Kelownan watched as Dr. Witcker quickly unlocked the door, slipping inside before the doors could open fully before she called out.

"It's clear in here."

Jonas moved quickly, gently nudging Camilla inside and over to her desk. He gently sat her down in the comfortable chair one of the other members of the city had given to her before he looked at Dr. Witcker.

"What the hell just happened?" the woman asked him quietly as the doors slid shut.

Jonas sighed as Camilla refused to let go of him and he held onto her, offering her the comfort she obviously sought. "I don't know anything specific," he told the red haired woman she took a seat on a stool she quietly dragged closer. "But shortly after I arrived on Earth, but before you found out, Camilla went on a mission with the remaining members of SG-1. All that I was ever told or learned from others talking was that she had been tortured on that mission by Anubis and his First Prime."

Dr. Witcker nodded then, sighing quietly. "That's all she ever told me as well," she revealed. "I met her when her back was still injured; all she said when I eventually asked her was that she'd been tortured."

Jonas nodded, sighing against as Camilla seemed to finally calm down. "Send a message from her datapad, give the others in the department the next few days off," he told his fellow linguist. "Camilla doesn't need to deal with more people than she's comfortable with."

The woman nodded and scurried around the room, searching for the correct datapad. Meanwhile, Jonas just held onto Camilla, thinking over what little he knew. With everything that had happened to his friend, he knew that the word torture would never really describe the horrors she had undergone at the order of Anubis and he doubted he would ever know the full extent of what had occurred, but he could easily summarise that it was worse than what Camilla would ever admit to. That certainly left only one thing in Jonas' mind that could have affected his close friend so much.

_Anubis and his First Prime are lucky that they have been dealt with, _he mused. _Because I doubt I'd be able to control myself._

Shaking his head, Jonas sat patiently, waiting for Camilla to calm down and for Dr. Witcker to let him know the message had been sent. The two of them would be busy for a while, but they could keep up with the translations the City needed while their friend slowly recovered away from the presence of others.

A-A-A-A-A-A

John sat calmly on a medical bed, straddling it like he had as he had when he'd spoken of Ellia to both Elizabeth and Carson. Now, Elizabeth stood next to him as they both listened to Carson, the man sitting on a stool facing him. He'd come as quickly as he could to the Infirmary, suddenly worried by the changes that had happened to him, making him far more forward with one of his closest friends than he would have ever been – probably – without what was changing inside him.

"The good news is, we can say with some certainty tha' Ellia didnae drain away any of yer life," the Doctor told them.

John rolled his eyes at that. He'd known almost as soon as it had happened that she hadn't fed off of him; he hadn't looked any older and he certainly hadn't felt any older. Or sore. Or stiff.

"We already knew that," he said.

Carson smiled slightly and nodded. "Ah suppose," he agreed.

John frowned slightly as he looked at the man. "That's the best good news you could come up with?" he asked.

Carson looked uncomfortable at that. "It looks like ye've been infected with the Iratus bug retrovirus," he said calmly. "The one we were working on to turn Ellia inta a human."

John arched an eyebrow and crossed his arms as he looked at the man. "You mean the one that _didn't _turn her into a human?" he asked.

"Ellia administered the treatment prematurely," Carson responded. "It wasnae ready, it wasnae even supposed t' be-"

John held his hands up and nodded. He understood self-recrimination as well as anyone else who'd gone through it and he knew what it could do to a person.

"I'm not blaming you, Doc," he said

Carson sighed and ran a hand through his hair absently. "But ye're right," he said. "The transformation was inta a creature closer to the Iratus bug than a ta a human, and I know how much you…"

John grimaced then. "…hate those bugs?" he finished.

The Scottish doctor sighed. "Aye," he answered.

Elizabeth sighed then. "But, for one ... Ellia was a Wraith," she said. "And she took a massive dose of the retrovirus. I mean, do we know how the Colonel's system might respond to the drug?"

John glanced from the head of the expedition to Carson, seeing the man shaking his head and spreading his hands. "Ah have nae idea," he answered. "It was nae engineered t' be given ta a human. It was nae intended…"

Seeing Carson heading back down the line of self-recrimination, John shook his head. "Doc…" he said, lifting his voice slightly.

"…t' be given ta anyone!" the man finished and John took a breath.

"Let it go," John told him gently.

He'd already forgiven the man for bringing the retrovirus to the planet and for anything that might happen to him. Couldn't the man see that and stop the unnecessary guilt trip?

Carson shook his head. "The problem is Ah have no idea how your body will react!" he said firmly. "Ah can nae even begin to guess."

John looked at him and wondered briefly if the Scottish doctor had given him too much information – or the real lack of it, really.

Taking a breath, John spread his hands and smiled. "Well, if how I feel is any indication? I'm fine," he told him.

He did. Though the incident with Camilla played on his mind. Not once, in all his years, had a woman cried or run from him, fear clear in her expression.

A-A-A-A-A-A

Martouf watched as McKay calmly walked around a now emptied Conference Room – according to Beckett, the other doctors and scientists had left, taking their equipment and tools with them.

"I sent Camilla a message," McKay began, "I wasn't sure about where I had read an entry about the bugs, but someone in her department sent a translation of what they'd been able to find. We have a Gate address and a list of the things that it likes; cool, damp, dark places to lay it's eggs and preferably hide in."

Martouf uncrossed his arms, looking at the scientist as he stopped pacing to lean against one of the tables in the room. "It shouldn't be that hard to locate," Lorne commented.

"Wait a minute," Dr. Weir said. "The last time we ran into one of these things, we almost lost Sheppard. How do you expect to just walk right into one of their nests?"

Martouf sighed, looking at the woman. "We have very little choice to do otherwise, Dr. Weir," he told her gently. "The treatment requires the stem cells and the only way to get them is from the Iratus bug's eggs."

"With the eggs, we actu'lly have a chance of savin' Colonel Sheppard," Beckett continued. "Without them, he'll die."

Dr. Weir seemed to sigh. "And this is the only option we have?" she asked.

Martouf nodded his agreement. "It's the only viable one that we have, Dr. Weir," he told her. "We do not have time to create another and hope it works. We have to use this one."

Lorne cleared his throat slightly from beside Martouf and the male Tok'ra watched as Dr. Weir turned to look at him. "We all understand the risks, Dr. Weir," he said. "And I believe that Colonel Sheppard would do the same for any one of us."

Martouf looked at Dr. Weir and watched as she seemed to struggle before she nodded and took a seat with a heavy sigh. "Permission granted," she said. "Get a team together."

Beckett looked at Lorne. "I need an hour t' get my things together," he said.

Lorne nodded as he leapt from his seat on the table. "Okay, gear up," he ordered. "One our."

A-A-A-A-A-A

With the information Camilla's department had given about what these Iratus bugs needed, Ronon calmly led the way through the forest to a cave he'd spotted when the Jumper had come through the Gate. It was a fair distance from where the pilot had landed the Jumper and Ronon had looked to Lorne.

The man, according to what Martouf had told him, was Sheppard's Second In Command around the base, so he was the one technically in charge of the mission. He'd waited for a nod before leading the way, following a path laid down by the planet's indigenous animals.

"So what are we looking for?" Lorne asked.

"According to the Ancient database, a cave if the most likely," Martouf spoke up. "The bugs prefer the cool darkness afforded there."

Ronon grunted, glancing over his shoulder at the two men, seeing the male Tok'ra carrying a large canister on one shoulder. "They wouldn't want their nests out in the open," he agreed. "Cave keeps the eggs away from the predators."

McKay frowned at that. "I always figured they were the predators," he said.

Ronon chuckled at that. "I guarantee there's something out here, worse," he told him.

"Really?"

Martouf chuckled then. "Dr. McKay, there is always something bigger and stronger than the current predator," he said. "The Iratus bugs are not the top of their food chain, there is something bigger that feeds on them."

McKay groaned. "Thank you," he muttered. "Thank you for that!"

Ronon shook his head with a small smile. "Welcome," he said.

He didn't need to hear Lorne's comments to pick up the pace. He was already moving quicker, faster, leading the way to the mountains.

A-A-A-A-A-A

Martouf leaned against the stone wall that made the cave mouth, feeling Lantash settling his muscles from the tenseness they'd been in on the walk up to the cave and he could already feel the strain to his calf muscles easing as he checked that his night vision goggles rested atop his head as Ronon knelt in the dirt closest to the cave mouth, examining the dirt there.

"It certainly smells like there's somethin' livin' in there," he heard Beckett commented to Lorne who had asked him something.

"Yeah," McKay agreed quietly. "Or dying."

Martouf watched as Teyla squinted before she shook her head. "I cannot see that far into the cave," she said after a moment.

With years of tracking, Martouf was only mildly disgusted as Ronon Dex lifted up a pile of bright orange waste to his nose, sniffing it cautiously before wrinkling his nose and casting the waste off.

"Oh, well, that is disgusting!" McKaysaid, horror clear in his voice.

Ronon shrugged as he wiped the most of the waste off of his hand in the clear, brown dirt. "They're in there," he said.

"And you had to pick it up and smell it to figure that out?!" McKay asked him.

Martouf snorted at that, watching as the Satedan turned to give him a look. "To know it's recent," he replied.

McKay looked astounded. "Well, how recent?"

Ronon didn't answer as Lorne gave the scientist a glare. "So," he said. "What's the plan?"

Martouf looked at Carson who held a butterfly-like catching net. "Well," he said. "We go in there, we get some eggs, and then we come out."

Lorne nodded. "Okay," he agreed. "Ronon, Teyla, you're with me. Walker, Stevens, Martouf, you take our six. Docs?" He looked at Beckett and McKay. "Just stay in the middle and try not to get bit, okay?"

"Well, maybe someone should," McKay said as he pointed to himself. "Stay out here."

"So that you're all alone when a dozen of them come stampeding out here?" Ronon asked as he stood up.

Martouf slipped his goggles on with a sigh. That comment alone would bring McKay into line and he readied himself to move, even as he settled the water canister across his back again.

"I'm in the middle," the scientist said.

Martouf nodded. "Good idea," he said.

Ronon Dex sighed. "Let's do it."

A-A-A-A-A-A

Ronon calmly led the way into the cave, doing his best to ignore the greenish hue to his vision. He drew his blaster and continued on frowning slightly at the sound that greeted him before it grew louder.

"Hear that?" he asked.

It was a loud hissing, chittering sound that greeted his hearing and Ronon heard Teyla exhale loudly. "Yes," she answered from beside him.

"Looks like we've got the right address," Lorne commented.

Ronon continued walking, leading the way through the cave's tunnels, pressing a hand to the stones every now and then, watching as the remaining dung from the bugs clung to the wall and glowed in the goggles' vision. He had a way to lead the way out and he relaxed slightly, even as he continued to walk.

The sight that greeted him as he reached the inside of the cave where the chittering was the loudest almost had Ronon whistling in mild appreciation. For all the damage the Iratus bug had caused for humans, they were in a large group here, in the cave, as almost a family group.

"Doc," Lorne called softly.

"Good God!" the Scottish doctor gasped. "I think this is it."

Ronon looked around, his hands ready on his blaster as he looked at the large sacks hanging from the ceiling a few feet in front of them. He would have walked towards one if the floor hadn't been covered in the crawling insects. It would have been easy if they weren't swarming all over the place, making it impossible to cross the room without killing one.

"So how do we wanna play this?" Lorne asked.

"They'll defend their young," Ronon told him.

He'd seen it enough times as a Runner to know that any animal would protect the young, even at a cost to their own lives.

Lorne nodded – the man may not have been a Runner, but Ronon was willing to bet that the man had seen something to make him agree.

"Maybe we should make a diversion," McKay said from where he stood behind Teyla and Lorne.

Ronon spared the man a hard look, arching an eyebrow.

"Are you volunteering?" Lorne asked him.

He seemed to shrink then. "I'll shut up," McKay offered.

"I do not think it would be possible to reach the eggs without the Iratus bugs attacking," Martouf commented, shaking his head slightly.

Beckett held up a device a Marine passed calmly to him. "Ah have this," he said, "but Ah need t' get under tha'." He pointed at the nearest egg sack with the device. "Hand me the water canister."

Martouf obliged the man, stepping towards him as he lifted the tank from his shoulder. "I remember, doctor," he said. "They dislike salt water."

Lorne looked confused and Ronon felt just as much as he watched Martouf crouch down and open the canister. "How's that going to help us?" he asked.

"Just watch," Carson told him before he looked at Martouf. "Ye min' laddie?"

Martouf chuckled in response and nodded, standing up and calmly hefting the now open canister. Ronon watched as the man carefully took a few steps forward before tossing some of the water at the creatures. The bugs didn't scream, but their chittering took on a panicked edge and he watched as they scurried away from the salt water that soaked into the ground, giving it a good space clear around the edge.

"Move quickly, doctor," Martouf said tersely. "There is not much water left in the canister."

Ronon watched as Beckett moved towards the male Tok'ra, moving slowly and he watched as Martouf splashed more water at the ground, keeping the bugs back, even as the nervous chittering slowly turned angry.

"Doc?" Lorne called, a warning tone clear in his voice.

Ronon watched as Beckett nodded. "Ah've come this far," he replied before he moved closer to the egg sack and reached towards it with the device.

It took Ronon only a second to see the Iratus bug heading towards the two and he pointed his weapon at it, the setting at kill. "Heads up!" he hollered as he fired at the bug before he watched it fall to the floor.

For the first time in a long time, Ronon wondered if he shouldn't have reacted as he had; the rest of the bugs in the cavern began to react, moving closer to Beckett, their dead companion and Martouf.

Martouf up-ended the tank, doing his best to keep the bugs back and Ronon shook his head.

"Oh God!" Beckett shouted above the angry chitterling of the Iratus bugs

"Carson!" Teyla shouted at him as the others opened fire on the bugs. "Run!"

Ronon watched as Beckett raced towards them, Martouf hot on his heels, emptying the canister as he did so – doing his best to keep the bugs back, even as Ronon opened fire on them, giving the two covering fire. He followed Lorne the moment the man turned and ran, leaving two of his men behind to give them cover fire. He raced passed the man as he ordered the two men to move before 'fire in the hole' echoed in his ears.

And not a moment too soon, Ronon mused, as he launched himself into the nearest green bush, feeling the explosive fire burning through the air before it cooled.

"I think that stopped them," he said as he got his feet under him.

"We're not stickin' around to find out," Lorne said with a groan. "I'm pulling the plug on this mission. Let's get back to the Gate."

A-A-A-A-A-A

Cam stood in the Control Room, her fingers absently drumming on her arms as she looked at screen where a message flashed. _'Biometric sensor activated'_ flashed for a few moments before it disappeared and an image of the city came up, showing many white dots. She watched as they disappeared and a red dot became visible.

She wasn't comfortable being outside of the safety her office afforded her – or her quarters – but she had come out to discover what was going on and why power to her office had been dropped to barely minimal levels.

"Okay," Rodney said from where he stood next to the screen, typing away on his laptop. "We've got a lock on him."

Cam moved closer to him, nodding as she felt Kel'an working through her body, heightening her senses and sight. Her gaze flickered quickly around the screen, searching for the lifesign that they needed.

**_At least we know that we have a way of searching for the man, _**Kel'an commented. **_He won't get close to you. Not until he's himself again._**

Cam hummed absently, her arms still crossed before she smiled slightly as her gaze flickered to a red dot that raced across the screen at an incredible speed. _Indeed we do, _she agreed. _It works and they've just found him._

"That's can't be him!" Caldwell said. "It's moving too fast."

Ronon smirked mirthlessly at him. "That's him," he told the man.

Caldwell nodded. "Alright," he said as he turned to look at the Marines. "Four teams. Surround him and close in. I want him stopped gentlemen – use whatever level of force you deem necessary." He nodded at them. "Move out."

Cam frowned at that, even as the Marines made to move out before Elizabeth turned to face them. "You will only use such force as a last resort," she told them when they had stopped.

"That's not Sheppard anymore, ma'am," Caldwell said.

Cam rolled her eyes then, shaking her head. "A Tok'ra can run just as fast, Colonel," she told him tersely. "The retrovirus in Colonel Sheppard's system means that he's working far above normal."

Elizabeth glared at Caldwell slightly before she looked back at the Marines. "You heard me," she told them.

The Marines nodded and moved out of the room, all of them holding Wraith stunners. Cam watched as Ronon started to leave before he stopped.

"You coming?" he asked Teyla.

She paused for a moment before she nodded. "Yes," she replied before she followed him out of the room.

Cam took a breath, watching as Martouf looked at her, worry clear in his expression and stance, before turned to follow after the Satedan and Athosian. The female Tok'ra heaved a sigh of relief and bowed her head. She needed to get back to her office. And preferably lock her door.

"Lock down the Stargate," Elizabeth told Rodney who nodded at her.

"Right!"

A-A-A-A-A-A

Lantash moved ahead of the group that Ronon and Teyla had joined, hefting his P-90 in one hand, a Zat'nik'tel in the other. He was not about to take any chances in recovering the man and he certainly wanted the man to be alive. He did not know what had happened to Camilla, but something Colonel Sheppard had done had affected his host's sister and he was not about to let that slide. A shot from a Zat'nik'tel would have to be enough.

_"Bravo Team, you're on deck," _Colonel Caldwell spoke. _"Tango is right below you."_

Lantash nodded, ranging ahead of the group and heading for the closest flight of stairs. While he did not have the experience with the City that Camilla and Colonel Sheppard had, Martouf had worked with the teams exploring the City and he knew enough to navigate safely.

_"Stay sharp," _Caldwell ordered. _"He should be right in there with you."_

Kel'an nodded. **"Understood," **she breathed.

A-A-A-A-A-A

Ronon ranged the corridors above the rest of the team. He'd heard something and he was following what his gut was telling him. He paused, hearing the sound of something climbing and he smirked. Glancing around himself, the Satedan moved down the corridor and pulled himself around one corner, taking cover as he made sure that his weapon was set to stun.

He trusted Sheppard, but the virus was in control. If there was a way of freeing the man from the virus, then he'd stun him.

A-A-A-A-A-A

Lantash cursed the improved reflexes that Sheppard had and let out a shot from his Zat'nik'tel strike him before tossing it to one side. With the design of the Zat'nik'tel in mind, Lantash was not about to try and shoot him again, only to kill him. He had to rely on his remaining weapon.

**"Colonel!" **he hollered, hearing his dual-tone voice echo in the large room around them. **"Stand down!"**

He watched as the man paused on the stairs and turned around, taking a few steps down. Lantash lifted P-90, sensing Teyla's presence beside him. "Please," the Athosian said. "Do not make us do this!"

As he kept walking, Lantash let a single bullet fly from the weapon to the step before the man. When that didn't stop him, he switched firing modes and calmly let out a stream of bullets at the next step, hearing Teyla mimic his actions. That was all that was needed to get Sheppard to turn around and race back up the stairs.

Lowering his P-90 with a muttered expletive, Lantash raced up the stairs, extending the reach of his host, taking the steps three at a time before racing across the landing after the retreating form of Colonel Sheppard.

He'd only rarely heard Ronon Dex's weapon work, but the sound was unforgettable and Lantash watched in awe as two red bolts shot from a hidden corner and struck Sheppard, sending the man skidding to his knees before collapsing in a heap with a muffled groan.

"Get the doctor down here," Ronon said, tapping his ear. "I have him."

Lantash nodded, tapping his own ear piece. **"Colonel Sheppard has been captured," **he said.** "Dr. Beckett's presence would be gratefully accepted."**

A-A-A-A-A-A

Jonas stood in between Dr. Witcker and Camilla, nursing a glass of Earth alcohol. He hadn't looked at the label, but he knew it wasn't 'vodka'. Dr. Witcker had gone for a glass of purified water while Jonas absently noticed that the female Tok'ra was sharing an earthenware mug.

The last time he had seen the two of them doing that, Jonas had discovered that the mug had contained a rather potent alcohol made by the Jaffa. The strongest drink that Jonas had had on Kelowna could not match the potency of the Jaffa-made brew and had promptly stuck to the 'weaker' versions, somehow managing to be amazed by Camilla and Martouf's ability to go unharmed drinking the alcohol.

While both he and Dr. Witcker didn't know Colonel Sheppard all that well, he had known that his friend was going to need some form of support now that the mutating Colonel had been returned to the Infirmary. She'd recovered her composure remarkably well, but he knew that only one word spoken could break it and her control.

Jonas looked up from his glass seconds later when he heard the sounds of hesitant footsteps coming towards the large balcony in the Mess Hall.

"You guys are up late," Dr. Weir commented.

McKay snorted, looking up from a bowl of jelly. "Can't you sleep either?" he asked in return.

It seemed the usual snark and confidence of everyone had been drained, taking McKay's usual barbs and weakening them to beyond harmless.

"Any progress?" Teyla Emmagan asked.

Dr. Weir shook her head. "No," she answered. "He's still in a coma. At least he isn't in any pain."

"…Maybe if I went alone, maybe…" Ronon Dex spoke up.

Dr. Weir shook her head again, her expression firm yet sad. "It's not open for discussion," she told him.

Jonas looked at Ronon Dex, seeing the man leaning against the railing, his weight settled firmly against it, even with his arms crossed over his chest. "I'm not good at sittin' still," the Satedan told her.

"I doubt anyone here is, big buy," Dr. Witcker said. "I don't know the guy and I'm about to start pulling my hair out."

Dr. Weir sighed, even as Jonas caught a glimpse of Camilla passing the earthenware mug to her brother who promptly passed it to the Satedan. "Believe me, I understand," the head of the expedition said. "I appreciate how you feel." She took a breath. "Look. We've closed down that section of the Infirmary, but if you feel the need to…"

Jonas didn't need her to finish, even as she trailed off and he nodded. He understood what wasn't being spoken. "Are we really at that point?" McKay asked. "Of saying goodbye, I mean."

Dr. Weir sighed. "I think we might be."

Without his radio active, Jonas didn't hear whatever had surprised Dr. Weir or the others, but he watched as Dr. Weir spun and walked off, heading out of the Infirmary, the others behind her. Still leaning against the railing, stunned by the sudden exodus from the Mess Hall, Jonas set his drink down.

"What just happened?"

A-A-A-A-A-A

Cam didn't manage to catch what Carson had been saying as Elizabeth raced ahead of the others as she climbed the stairs. She had caught up, with her brother, as Carson started to cross the walkway to Elizabeth's office.

"-ucing trace amounts of their signature pheromone," Carson said.

"And?" Elizabeth asked him

"When we were in the cave," Carson continued. "Those bugs knew we did nae belong there, so they did nae really fancy us getting close t' their nest."

Cam felt her eyes widening as she leaned against one of the walls in the office. "You've saying that if we can produce the pheromone artificially, then we might be able to get the Iratus bugs to ignore us?" she asked.

Carson nodded. "Aye," he replied. "Tha' would work."

"Well, that's an excellent plan, Carson!" Rodney said, a smile on his face.

**_There's always a hiccup with these kind of discoveries, _**Kel'an commented.

Carson nodded again. "Aye, Ah wish it was."

Ronon looked at him. "You can't do it in time," he said.

Carson shrugged. "Nae," he replied calmly. "It'd take days."

Cam sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. _Why do you have to be right? _she asked.

**_Just logic, _**Kel'an said. **_It took the Tok'ra weeks to create a substance that made Dr. Jackson blind to Anubis's sensors and those, after a fashion, were designed to sense certain pheromones and lifesigns._**

Cam saw the other's expressions falling then. "But you said Sheppard only had twenty-four hours before the damage the retrovirus was causing him would be irreparable," Elizabeth said.

Carson reluctantly nodded. "Exactly."

"Well, then that's a terrible plan Carson!" Rodney put in.

"There's only one person on this base that wouldnae need the artificial pheromone," Carson continued explaining.

It didn't take Cam a second to understand the man's mildly cryptic words and she shook her head. "Sheppard!" Elizabeth said, her tone conveying her shock.

"He could walk right in that cave and those bugs would nae pay him any mind."

"I'm not sure if you've noticed or not, but Colonel Sheppard's not feeling very well," Rodney retorted angrily.

"He stopped taking the inhibitor we were administering," Carson replied calmly, not belying the anger that was clear to Cam. "It was able to keep him lucid."

"I thought it's effectiveness had worn off," Elizabeth pointed out.

Carson shrugged. "It has," he said. "But Ah believe if we give him another massive dose, he may be clear-headed enough t' complete the mission before we lose him completely."

"Yeah, but won't giving him that much inhibitor, like…" Rodney began and stopped before he could go any further.

The Scottish doctor nodded. "Kill him? Aye, it's a definite possibility. Even if Ah knew it was for certain, Ah'd be tempted t' offer him one last hour of lucidity."

Cam nodded in understanding, even as Elizabeth nodded her own agreement. "Do it," she said before she looked at the others. "Gear up, take him as far as the cave."

A-A-A-A-A-A

Cam stood on the balcony, watching as Atlantis' flagship team left, John leading the way, Carson and Martouf taking up the rear. Danny and Jonas stood with her, even as she leaned tiredly on the balcony.

"You think they're going to be able to do it?" Danny asked.

Cam smiled weakly, nodding. "I've seen some crazy plans work because of Sheppard," she told her friends. "Some of the craziest plans I've ever known and the man pulls it off as if he did it every day." She shook her head then. "My worry is whether or not they'll be in time to be able to save him."

A-A-A-A-A-A

**SEVERAL WEEKS LATER**

John calmly walked into Camilla's office, dressed casually, the base uniform hanging up in his quarters somewhere. He hoped that dressed as he was he wouldn't pose a threat to the woman inside. Stepping quietly through the maze of tables and chairs, John watched the female Tok'ra, seeing her sat at a lone desk facing the others. He also saw that she was sat in a chair that he _knew _Lorne had given her after one visit and a seat on a stool.

He paused silently, watching as the woman's eyes flickered between the three datapads she had on her desk, her gaze barely pausing as she looked between them. With her unaware of him for a few moments, John could see the dark circles under her eyes, the circles highlighting the bags that had appeared there as well. The pilot _knew _he had been the obvious cause of a lack of sleep for the woman and his heart broke just a little at how weak and tired she appeared. Her hands shook slightly and John absently noticed a dozen stained cups littering the room, the stains reminiscent of coffee stains.

Her gaze lifted then and John could have pinpointed the exact moment when her shared mind caught up to what she was seeing before she reacted, fear guiding her as she shot to her feet. With still several tables between them, John raised his hands up as Camilla reached for her Staff Weapon, hearing the ominous hum of it as she aimed at him.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded.

As much as he hands had shaken before, John was now mildly worried that he aim was so still and focused on him. "To apologise," he told her gently. "If you don't want me to come any closer, I'll stay right here."

He watched he flinch, her aim remaining true and he waited patiently. It took her several, long seconds, warring with herself and Kel'an from the look of things before she relaxed slightly, slowly lowering her aim before removing her Staff Weapon completely. Instead, she leaned against the still active weapon, resting her weight against it as she watched him.

"You're looking remarkably well," she commented eventually.

John nodded, slowly lowering his hands. "According to the last tests done, my DNA says I;m one hundred percent John Sheppard again," he told her before he twisted his right arm towards her, showing the still healing and shrinking mark to his forearm. "Although, I'm looking forward to the day when this thing finally clears up; Carson says it could take a while."

Camilla graced him with a weak smile, nodding slightly in understanding and John took a breath.

"Look," he said. "I've been cooped up in that Infirmary for weeks now, So I've had a bit of time to think, to remember."

The woman in front of him shifted before she switched her weapon off and leaned it against a wall. "About what?" she asked him, crossing her arms over her chest.

John shrugged a shoulder in response. "I did some things that one could call out of character," he said. "Some of those I should apologise for."

Camilla shifted uncomfortably in front of him, her hands moving to grip her arms tightly. "It wasn't you in the gym that day," she told him. "While I doubt I'll ever be able to forget what happened, I can forgive the actions of a man who was not entirely in control of himself."

John, while he felt some of his guilt disappearing at her forgiveness, shook his head and took a single step forwards, no more than that one step. "While the retrovirus made me act out like I did," he began when she tensed, struggling to find the right words when he needed them most, "it didn't create the feelings I had, it only emphasized them."

To his complete and utter surprise, he watched as Camilla's eyes widened, tears filling her eyes as she shook her head. She looked away from him, her hair falling in front of her face as he arms shifted to wrap around her middle, holding on tight to the flesh there as she continued to shake her head.

"Not someone like me," he heard her muttered. "You can't… not me… not someone like me."

Taking her lack of a weapon as a good sign, John moved through the maze of tables and stools until he was in front of her, taking a moment before he wrapped his arms around her. The Colonel was well aware of the strength the Tok'ra had and he was careful to not let Camilla feel trapped, even as he rested her head against his chest, under his chin.

"Why not?" he asked her quietly, holding onto her. "You're a strong-willed woman; intelligent; gifted; caring and beautiful to boot. What about those means I can't?"

The woman shook her head against his chest, her breath hiccupping slightly. "You can't," she repeated. "Not me…not damaged goods."

Hearing those words slipping from her, John tightened his embrace on her, feeling her tightening her grip on his pale shirt. "I do," he told her. "I do, in spite of that. You survived."

Camilla stilled in his arms, her body unmoving. "I was raped," she revealed quietly, her voice barely a whisper. "A lot of me died that day and… and I haven't been able to trust since then."

John shook his head. "You survived," he told her firmly. "And I want to be around to help you heal." He paused, pressing his face into her hair, smelling the sweet scent that clung to the fine strands. "You may not be the same person from before that happened, but you've gone and rebuilt yourself. You haven't let whoever it was rule your life."

He finally felt her body shaking and shivering in his arms and he heard Camilla's breathing hiccup again. He rocked her gently, holding her close as he did his best to soothe her obviously frazzled nerves. "I don't know what I have left to give," she rasped out, "so much was taken…"

John shushed her gently, shaking his head. "I'm a greedy bastard," he told her. "I'll take anything and everything you give me. I'll take it all, and only from you."

He felt Camilla finally break in his arms and John could only wonder if anyone knew the full extent of what had happened to her. He moved her towards the seat and sat down, drawing her into his arms again. Things would go smoothly, not for a while yet, but John was willing to wait and hope things worked out.

* * *

This is it. This is the first chapter of my PoD arc. I hope you all enjoyed reading. I'll be posting next month, or when I next have a chapter ready to upload, so I would love to read any reviews you all drop me. Until next time. :)


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I think everyone gets the gist of this now. Outside of my own characters, I own no one and nothing. Admittedly, I'm planning on creating an inter dimensional portal and grabbing all those lovely, hot men from Atlantis! But that's just semantics.

* * *

Okay, this is my PoD story, so please, enjoy the changes and differences. As I've already posted in TiA, my updates will happen once a month as I try and wait for my work to even out. I'm going to be doing my best to post a little more regularly than that, but my plan is to post once a month.

So, a definition of PoD = Point of Divergence. In my mind, for the last few months, I've had two separate story arcs running around in my mind and I finally decided to write another story that would follow the one plot while Tokr'a in Atlantis followed my original one.

* * *

**Chapter 2: Aurora**

Sitting in the Control Room, ostensibly to act as a guard for the members of the expedition working at the Ancient consoles, John watched as both Camilla and Rodney worked, both of them focused intently on one of the Ancient consoles. It had been only a week or so since he'd had the conversation with the Tok'ra in her office, but he'd kept close to her as much as he could after it, doing his best to keep her company.

He wasn't on active duty and the rest of his team had been temporarily placed on others, keeping active as he waited for Carson to clear him for active duty. He'd received looks from Martouf and according to Camilla, he'd barely missed being interrogated by her brother.

Sat in his seat, out of the way, John Sheppard watched as Camilla pressed a hand to one of the consoles, her body turning to look at the large Ancient screen behind them. Her eyes widened and John recognised the look - something had surprised her - and he turned around to take a look and frowned at the image that floated on the screen. For a moment it seemed like he was looking at a scan of the night sky, but it took only a further second for him to see a green object highlighted and noted in Ancient.

"What is it?" he asked.

Camilla shook her head numbly, liking her bottom lip for a moment before she shook her head again. "Tao've'nu," she muttered. "Rodney?" ["You won't believe me."]

The Canadian nodded as he stood and moved away, even as John frowned and looked at Camilla again. He'd picked up some Goa'uld from Martouf - he'd been on the same team as the man for the better part of a year, John had picked some up like he'd picked up a little Ancient - and he understood what she'd roughly said.

"What won't I believe?" he asked her.

Camilla looked at him, surprised, even as she shook her head. "Let's wait until Elizabeth's here," she said before she sighed, looking at him with a weak smile. "We might have found another group of Ancients."

A-A-A-A-A-A

Elizabeth walked into the Control Room, unsure and mildly worried as to why Rodney had called her up to the top of the City's main tower, but she watched as both Camilla and Rodney worked at one of the consoles, their attention focused entirely on whatever information they had found while John sat nearby, dressed in full base uniform, his arms crossed pensively over his chest.

"What is it?" she asked.

The head of the expedition watched as the two separate heads of department lifted their heads to look at her. Camilla gave her a weak smile, even as she saw Rodney stand up straight and point to the Ancient screen behind him.

"That is the signature of an Ancient ship called _The Aurora_," the scientist answered. "With the ZPM now powering the city, we've been reactivating dormant systems."

Camilla nodded at that, running a hand through her hair. "My department and I have been going over various 'programmes' in the City's circuits," she said, "and we found this one a week or so ago. It's taken us this long to translate everything. This programme, from all available translations, is a system that tracked the positions of various Ancient ships during the war."

John, who now stood next to her, straightened up. "So it's a warship?" he asked.

Rodney rolled his eyes. "See, look at his eyes all lighting up again," he muttered. "It's Pavlovian." He shook his head with a sigh. "We cross-checked the logs. They were on a reconnaissance mission. When we activated the ZPM, the city must have sent out some kind of automated subspace beacon recalling ships back to Atlantis."

Elizabeth perked up at that, smiling slightly. "How long before it gets here?" she asked.

It would be wonderful to speak to un-Ascended Ancients that could potentially share information with them... Well, Elizabeth would be stupid if she let this fall from her grasp.

Rodney calmly turned to look at the monitor. "Well," he said. "Given that it's at the edge of the Pegasus galaxy, let me see..." He tilted his head. "Carry the four... add fifty... Forty-two million years." He turned back to look at her. "Should we go wait on the porch?"

Elizabeth sighed. The Ancients wouldn't reach them in time to be of any use.

"So we take a Jumper through the nearest Stargate, check it out," John commented.

Camilla snorted. "Clever," she said. "Useful if there was a Chaapa'ai nearby."

"There aren't any within close range, are there?" John asked.

Both Camilla and Rodney shook their heads. "Nope," Camilla said.

Elizabeth nodded then. There was one more thing that they could use and it would certainly not take all that long. The_ Daedalus _was just about to come within range of the City's sub-space radio contact at the edge of the galaxy. The head of the expedition could easily call in a favour or four.

A-A-A-A-A-A

Rodney didn't want to know what Elizabeth had said to Caldwell, he didn't even want to think on the possibilities of what she might have said or done. Instead, he focused his attention on the computer he'd commandeered as the _Daedalus _left hyperspace at the co-ordinates that they'd managed to get from the logs in the city.

"We should have visual soon," he said.

He nodded to himself and moved to join the rest of his team, standing between Teyla and Martouf as the last of the hyperspace window faded away.

"Sir," one of Caldwell's men called out. "Detecting a second ship."

Rodney frowned at that and moved back to the screens, well aware of the fact that the rest of the team was watching him. "Move," he told the technician in his way, pausing to look at the information on the screen. "Huh," he muttered as Sheppard moved to stand closer, to get a better look. "It looks like a small Wraith vessel."

"Dart?" Sheppard asked.

Rodney looked at the information again, making sure of what he was reading before he shook his head. "No, bigger," he answered. "Some sort of scout ship? Probably after the same thing we are."

"It's altering course," a technician called out. "Coming straight at us."

Sheppard sighed then. "Must have seen us drop out of hyperspace," he muttered.

"Weapons range?" Caldwell asked.

"Five seconds," another technician reported. "Target locked."

Rodney turned and watched as Caldwell nodded. "Fire."

The Canadian quickly turned his attention to the outside of the _Daedalus_, watching as two missiles lifted off from the front of the ship before heading in the direction of the ship. Rodney quickly returned his attention to the display, watching the information before the Wraith's ship disappeared along with the two missiles - it was the only sign that the Earth-made weapons had hit their mark.

"Target is destroyed," the technician reported calmly.

Caldwell nodded and sighed and Rodney tore his gaze from the screen. "All these years and just now the Wraith find this ship?" he muttered.

Rodney shrugged a shoulder. "Well, all these years, the _Aurora _has lain dormant," he replied.

Martouf nodded in agreement. "It is a well know fact among the Goa'uld," he said. "The longer a ship remains dormant, unused, the better the chances of remaining undetected."

Rodney nodded at the Tok'ra. "The signal from Atlantis woke it up, making it visible to us and the Wraith," he added.

that seemed to placate everyone as he saw Teyla and Ronon turning their attention back to the front of the _Daedalus_, watching for any sign of the Ancient ship. He got an answer seconds later.

"...Is that it?..." Teyla asked.

Rodney frowned and moved to stand by the Athosian woman, feeling his eyes widening at the sight that greeted him. Frankly, he didn't begrudge Teyla's opinion. The ship looked old, rusted and unusable, even as he became aware of both Sheppard and Caldwell joining them.

"Looking like it was in a hell of a fight," Sheppard muttered.

"And lost," Ronon agreed.

Caldwell sighed again. "Life support?" he asked.

"Negative sir," came the response.

"Looks like you're going to have to suit up, Colonel," Caldwell muttered.

Rodney felt his shoulders sag at that. The last time he had spent time in a suit had been at the Ancient satellite weapon, the same one that had eventually taken Peter Grodin's life. If it had been at all possible, Rodney would have gone the rest of his life without being in one.

Well, it certainly seemed like the universe was once more out to get him. Things hadn't changed.

A-A-A-A-A-A

Cam grinned at her brother as she calmly suited up beside him. With the same skills she had used during the storm to hide from her brother, she had calmly persuaded Hermiod to let her aboard before her brother and she had hidden herself in one of the rooms out of the pathway her brother would likely take on the ship.

"And how did you manage to get aboard?" Martouf asked her.

Cam continued to grin. "Hermiod and the fact that whoever was going to the _Aurora _was going to need an Ancient translator," she answered. "Jonas and Danny are breaking in the last of the recruits to my department."

John smirked at her as they all did the catches on their suits. "So can we expect them to join us on any away missions in the near future"?" he asked.

Cam shrugged a shoulder as she slipped her Staff Weapon's back holster on over the suit. "Jonas Quinn is proficient, as is Dr. Witcker," she answered. "I'd be willing to let them go out on missions while I get the rest of the department up to scratch."

John nodded as he quickly fixed Teyla's suit. "Considering how your brother reacts every time you join us, I'd suggest getting them up to scratch, fast," he told her.

Cam shrugged her shoulder again, but she understood the request. **_I told you that you should have pushed your department harder, _**Kel'an told her as she calmly reached for the helmet to the suit.

Cam worked efficiently as she slipped the helmet on, sliding the helmet just enough to hear the catch mechanisms lock. _I didn't want to do so too early, Kel', _she reminded her symbiote. _I have to balance pushing them and overworking them to the point of collapse. _She sighed in her mind, knowing her symbiote's feelings as well as her own. _I'll see if I can't speed up their lessons to have Danny and Jonas out on missions by the end of the next week._

A-A-A-A-A-A

Appearing inside the ship, Ronon hefted his weapon, uneasy inside the suite despite knowing how much it was needed. He flicked his torch on and calmly shone it's light around, seeing Sheppard and the others doing the same, even as Camilla seemed to pause and wait before she did the same.

With the helmet on, Ronon knew that he'd be relying on the radio headsets and he saw Sheppard nod after a moment. _"We should be just outside the Bridge," _he said.

Ronon followed Sheppard's gaze and watched as Camilla seemed to orient herself before nodding and shining her own light on a wall a few feet in front of Ronon. With Sheppard leading the way, Ronon watched as the man pressed a gloved hand to the doors in front of him.

It took a few seconds before he saw them sliding open and Ronon saw another pair of doors. It was a good strategy, he mused. Give any enemy twice the trouble of getting onto the Bridge if they ever tried. While Sateda hadn't had any space ships like the Wraith, the idea of creating more trouble for the Wraith had been something that everyone knew.

He watched as the others moved with both him and Sheppard as Martouf lifted his Staff Weapon up, flicking a switch to light the end before Ronon nodded to Sheppard. The repeated the touch to the door and it took seconds for Ronon to get a full look at the Bridge.

"You mean what _used _to be the Bridge," he said, looking at Sheppard.

It looked like a mixture of war and old age had gone at the bridge as Ancient consoles lay in pieces on the floor, many of them, Ronon mused, not in the places where they had once been installed. The little furniture that Ronon thought might be on the bridge hadn't survived as well as the consoles, leather in the seats having rotted away centuries ago while the metal of the seats had rusted and destroyed the position of the chairs as they lay scattered around the admittedly large room.

Sheppard levelled a glare at him for a moment before they moved back out and further into the ship, looking around as best they could.

_"Colonel Sheppard," _Teyla said.

Ronon followed the man as he led the way off to a room just passed the bridge. Teyla stood staring at something, McKay only a few steps behind her. Camilla moved to join her and through the radio he heard the female Tok'ra sigh.

_"Stasis pods," _the woman said softly. _"And they're still running."_

Ronon moved to one of the glowing pods attached to the walls and looked inside, peering at the clear, but frosted surface. He could just make out a person inside it, older than he had ever seen anyone before. He also watched as a pale blue glow seemed to activate and he looked up, seeing Sheppard moving closer, as well as McKay.

"Stasis pods?" he asked.

Teyla hummed. _"We found a similar pod in Atlantis," _the Athosian told him. _"It keeps a person alive for many years in a type of frozen hibernation."_

Ronon shook his head. "Yeah," he muttered. "If you call that living."

Camilla seemed to sigh. _"They've been in these probably for the last ten thousand years," _she said. _"I honestly doubt if they'd survive being removed from stasis."_

Martouf grunted as he shone his light around and Ronon mimicked him, glancing upwards as he absently counted twenty pods around him. _"I doubt that they will respond as well as the aged Dr. Weir did when we removed her from stasis," _the man said.

Ronon frowned at that and looked at the two Tok'ra. "What?" he asked.

Dr. Weir in Atlantis appeared only a decade older than Camilla, surely she wasn't that old?! How had she even gotten to be in one of these 'stasis pods'?

Camilla turned to look at him, her torch shinning to somewhere just past the Satedan's elbow. _"The stasis pod that Teyla spoke of held what we once thought was an Ancient," _she answered. _"Instead, it turned out that from another reality, timeline, a Dr. Weir had travelled back in time to when the Ancient had last lived in the city before they evacuated." _Camilla sighed, shaking her head. _"She gave up the rest of her life to remain behind, unknown to the Ancients, to make sure the disaster that befell her expedition was not repeated._

_"When we awoke her, she was ten thousand years old, weak and her body started to shut down. She died only days after we woke her up."_

Martouf sighed, patting the woman's shoulder. _"These Ancients are, in all likelihood, older than Dr. Weir when we awoke her," _he said. _"Removing them will kill them all."_

Ronon had heard, had understood the words he'd heard, but he didn't understand the meaning of what they'd been saying beyond the fact that he people were too old to revived.

_"Look at all the pods," _Teyla breathed.

Ronon tore his gaze from the two Tok'ra and looked upwards, this time seeing the sheer number of pods above their heads in the dim light afforded by their torches.

_"That's just on this deck," _Sheppard commented, his tone awed. _"Who knows how many more there are on the rest of this ship?"_

A-A-A-A-A-A

Teyla calmly walked the corridors of the Ancestor's ship, Ronon walking on her left side as Camilla walked on her right. They all carried their weapons, though, Teyla noticed, Camilla's Staff Weapon was slung across her back as she carried a hand device and torch, both held in different hands.

Focusing her attention on the stasis pods, Teyla absently noted that the level they were on stood tall enough for seven pods to be stacked comfortably while the number of stacks changed from room to room. So far, having gone only three rooms away from Colonel Sheppard and Dr. McKay, she had counted a comfortable eighty-nine pod, most of which were filled by Ancestors while a few remained empty.

After having not encountered bodies, Teyla certainly felt saddened by the obvious sign of death amongst the Ancestors for those pods to have remained empty when the ship shut down to preserve energy.

Returning her gaze to the other two who walked with her, she noticed that they were also counting, though the leader of the Athosians was sure that Camilla was relying on Kel'an to keep a total number in her mind as she merely looked around herself, shining her torch around.

Teyla paused as she heard her radio making its usual electric sound. _"Teyla," _Dr. McKay spoke in her ear. _Found any more of the pods?"_

The Athosian nodded absently as she stopped walking. "Yes, many," she answered. "And there are many more decks we have yet to search."

_"Are any of the pods empty?"_

Teyla nodded again, remembering the empty stasis pods she, Camilla and Ronon had walked passed. "A few," she admitted.

_"Perfect!"_

Teyla frowned then, tilting her head as she glanced to Camilla, seeing the other woman's confused look before she sighed and shook her head. "Is there anything else we can help with, Dr. McKay?" she asked.

_"If you've found any stasis pods that come in pairs, it would be useful if we set up camp by them," _the man responded.

Teyla frowned at that. She remembered seeing a few empty stasis pods near each other, but she hadn't seen any next to each other. Camilla seemed to remember and she nodded, tapping her own radio ear piece.

"Rodney," she said. "About three corridors over from you is a room with stasis pods. There were two empty ones on the bottom rung. That going to be good enough for you?"

A-A-A-A-A-A

Rodney watched as the last of the newly written Ancient coding raced across his laptop screen as Camilla sat next to him, finally stopping her frantic typing to lean back slightly. He knew the signs that she'd accessed the Ancient Knowledge in her brain as her hands continued to twitch for a few more seconds before she shook her head.

He admired her dedication, even as he knew the risks of her accessing - consciously mind you - the Ancient Knowledge in her mind. Two doses of the knowledge had done some funny things to the minds of the few people to access them, and Camilla was no different.

"First time programming?" he asked her.

Camilla rolled her eyes at him. "With Ancient as the root, yes," she answered before she groaned quietly and knuckled her forehead viciously, followed by a mixed spate of Ancient and Goa'uld curses.

Rodney saw a hand gently grasp her shoulder and he let his gaze drift to see Martouf standing behind her, concern on his face. Shaking his head, Rodney focused on the computer screen in front of him, giving the two some privacy, even as he quickly became aware that Sheppard and Ronon were watching the two.

Sighing, Rodney activated his radio back to the _Daedalus_ and talked Caldwell through their plan. They might not be able to get the Ancients to wake up and come to them, but they certainly could go the Ancients with a few empty pods.

"You sure this is such a good idea?" Sheppard asked.

Rodney looked up at the man as he stood and palmed the controls for the stasis pod they'd wired up. It was a comparatively simple task to think open and see the pod slide out. "What's the matter, Colonel?" he asked as he sat back down, smiling slightly. "Don't trust me?"

Sheppard smirked back at him. "No."

Rodney rolled his eyes. "Fine!" he muttered.

_"You're proposing actually freezing yourelf in one of those things?" _Caldwell asked.

It ha obviously taken the man longer than he'd originally thought to go through their idea and Rodney sighhed. "I should be able to tap into the neural network without actually initialising stasis," he replied calmly. "Look. It won't take long; I'll be in and out."

He shook his head and focused on tweaking a few lines of code, making sure that the stasis command wouldn't activate the final part of the stasis pod and he felt doubt coming from Sheppard. He sighed and looked back at the head of his team.

"Look, the quickest way to figure out what is going on is to tap into the system and communicate directly with the captain," he said. "Need I remind you of the obvious value in this?"

"But is it safe?" Teyla asked.

Rodney sighed and looked at the Athosian. "Would I be offering to do if it wasn't?" he asked her.

He really wouldn't be offering if he didn't believe and _know _that it would be safe. Rodney would only risk it if no one else could, would or wanted to go if it was the opposite.

"No," Ronon said.

Rodney nodded at him as he stepped closer, even as he heard Martouf sigh. "Which is why I believe Colonel Sheppard is willing to go in your stead," the Tok'ra said.

Rodney frowned at that and turned to the look at the man. "What?!" he asked.

"It's better to have you on the outside in case something goes wrong," Sheppard expanded as he shrugged off his P-90 and it's carry strap.

Rodney narrowed his eyes at the Colonel. "It won't," he said.

"But if it does-"

"It won't!" Rodney snapped at him. "How many times do I have to say this?!"

"Rodney," Camilla said. "Until the stasis pod's new programming is proven, between the two of you, if something were to go wrong, which would be the greater loss of understanding?"

Rodney looked at the woman and nodded. "Well," he said. "I've never thought of it that way before..." He looked at Sheppard and nodded. "They're right. You should go in."

He watched as Sheppard frowned and moved his narrowing eyes onto the Tok'ra beside him.

A-A-A-A-A-A

It wasn't all that different lying in the stasis pod to sitting in the Ancient Control Chair, John mused to himself as he got himself comfortable in the Ancient, obviously synthetic, material.

"Now remember," Rodney said. "The system creates a direct feedback loop between the processor and your brainwaves, so when you want to disconnect, you'll need to really... um... well, concentrate."

John shook his head with a smile. "You mean think it," he corrected.

Camilla chuckled from beside Rodney. "No, Colonel," she said. "Conectrate. Otherwise every time you thought of disconnecting, even sub-consciously, you would do so. So, it will take a concerted effort to remove yourself from the network."

John smirked. "So, 'there's no place like home'?" he asked.

Camilla snorted again and John turned his head to look at his team, seeing both Teyla and Ronon's confused expressions, even as he saw Rodney's tired one and Camilla and Martouf's mildly amused ones.

"If that's what works for you," the female Tok'ra said.

Rodney shook his head. "Now," he said. "I should be able to monitor your EEG readings, so in the highly unlikely event that something anomalous should present itself, I should be able to disconnect you manually."

John nodded and looked back up at the top of the open pod. "Good," he muttered.

"...Without permanent brain damage."

The Air Force Colonel looked back at the Canadian scientist. "Rodney?" he asked, half of his tone a warning.

He would have liked to have known that before he volunteered himself for guinea-pig duty. Rodney didn't look at him, instead he looked at the laptop's screen with a concerted effort.

"Well, the opportunity to speak with a living Ancient is worth the risk, hmmm?" the scientist replied. "Now, when I close the lid, the pod system should activate. Ready?"

John settled his body back into the grooves of the pod, doing his best to get his body comfortable while he mind went to go play. "I was," he muttered.

"Good."

After years of flying, John could easily feel the pod moving back into the wall and he closed his eyes, doing his best to relax his body as he felt something brush against his mind.

A sound like static echoed in his ears and like an old television that needed re-tuning, a visual lit up in front of his eyes. It took a few seconds and John felt his eyes widening to take in everything around him.

He was stood in a corridor that looked much like the one he'd been in, outside of the stasis pod, and yet it looked different. The stasis pods that had lined the walls outside of the pods weren't in attendance around him, the room more brightly lit and John could feel that the clothes he now wore were different.

He looked down at himself, taking in the off-white colour of the comparatively simple clothing he wore. He wore a jacket, a shirt under the jack from the feel of things, and trousers and boots that felt surprisingly comfortable.

Turning his hands over to look at them, he could see the childhood scarring on them and he smiled slightly. "This is weird," he muttered.

A-A-A-A-A-A

Cam stopped at the doors to the armoury, her hand raised, ready to swipe over the Ancient crystals that acted as the lock. She waited until she saw Teyla and Ronon nod before she swung her arm, the command to open the doors at the forefront of her mind. As soon as the doors began to slide open, she dropped her hand and picked up her pistol, aiming it into the room as they walked inside and she frowned at the darkness that engulfed the room.

Several Ancient commands later and Cam shook her head, slipping her weapon back into it's holster. "Carson's going to kill me," she muttered. "Do you have any spare cloth Teyla?"

**_You aren't..._** Kel'an breathed.

Cam sighed. _I am, _she answered. _We need light and torches are not going to work._

Teyla nodded and held up a spare piece of cloth about a foot square. "You are going to do what you did to power the shields, are you not?" she asked.

Cam nodded as she pulled the sleeves of her uniform up, making sure that her palms and arms were exposed, clear of anything that could be damaged by her abilities. "I'm going to be trying something a little different, though," she said before she closed her eyes.

She took a deep breath and held her hands away from her body, placing her palms upwards as she began to meditate where she stood, feeling her pulse rate slowing, aided by Kel'an as her symbiote reluctantly helped her get in touch with the Ascended energy that was always close in her mind.

It took a few seconds before she felt the telltale burning in her palms and she snapped her eyes opening, focusing on the far wall from her before she gauged distances and reacted. She threw her arms back before snapping them forwards, hoping that she could dislodge the energy enough to get it to light the armoury up.

Sensing the two separate balls of energy like a pair of drones, she ruthlessly controlled them, stopping the one closer to her before stopping the other a bit away from the end wall. Once she was sure that the energy would stay where she'd put them, she let the pain in her hands into her mind, groaning quietly in pain before she started muttering, bringing her hands in close to herself, cradling them close to her.

She couldn't help her flinch when Teyla firmly gripped her wrists and pulled them away from her before pressing a cloth into her palms. She glanced at Ronon, seeing his wide eyes and she quickly looked away, back at Teyla.

"Sorry," she offered to the Satedan as she watched the Athosian carefully bind her palms. "Forgot the last time I used this was before..."

She bit her lip, the last time had been just weeks before Ronon had joined the expedition, on that trip back from Earth. She looked out of the corner of her eye at the man, well aware of the fact that her eyes were glowing that sharp white.

The man shrugged a shoulder. "What we looking for?" he asked.

Cam huffed a laugh then. "I'm staying still," she told him, "while I let you and Teyla take an inventory of the weapons available here."

A-A-A-A-A-A

John opened his eyes with a mute groan. It had taken more 'concentration' to get himself out of the program, but he'd done it. Eventually. It took a few seconds before he felt the pod slipping out from the wall and he looked around, seeing both Rodney and Camilla standing nearby, concerned expressions on their faces.

"And?!" Rodney pressed him.

John groaned again. "It works," he answered.

Rodney snorted. "Of course it worked!" he answered.

John took a moment before he sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the base of the stasis pod. He shook his head as he looked at the two of them.

"For a minute," he began, "I thought I was going to get stuck there." He looked around, frowning at the lack of anyone else in the room. "Where are the others?"

Camilla smiled. "Colonel Caldwell sent myself and Ronon and Teyla to search the ship's armoury," she told him.

John perked up at the information. "Yeah?" he asked.

She shook her head and raised her hands. "I got my hands bloody for nothing," she told him. "Completely depleted of drones. So, they're going to carry on with the rest of the ship."

Rodney shook his head, glaring at the woman before he looked back at him, his hands crossed impatiently over his chest. "So, what happened?" he asked. "Were you able to communicate with the Captain?"

John nodded in answered. "Face-to-face," he answered. "Pretty impressive in there." He shrugged a shoulder. "They have the whole virtual reality going on in there."

Before Rodney could correct him - something that John liked to do just to irk the man - Camilla had elbowed him in the ribs, shaking her head. "So," she said gently. "What did you did out."

John reached for his radio headset and calmly slipped it back into place at his ear. "For starters," he said. "I have to go back."

A-A-A-A-A-A

Cam sat at the laptop, cradling her slowly healing hands in her lap as she watched the screen, her gaze not staying on one piece of information for too long. She made sure that everything was in order as she watched the information racing across the screen. After explaining to Caldwell the reasons for going back in, John had taken her to one side, talking with her.

_"Was it really that smart to bring the energy into your palms?" he'd asked._

_Cam had rolled her eyes, Kel'an adding a glow that showed her own displeasure. "The torches weren't working all that well in supplying what we needed to look around."_

_John had shaken his head and drawn her into a loose embrace, the Tok'ra letting him as they stayed outside of view of the others. "Don't want you to hurt yourself," he'd breathed._

_Cam had clung to him. "Didn't want to," she'd told him, speaking the words into his neck. "Had to..."_

_John had sighed and tightened his grip on her for a few seconds before letting go and pulling back to look at her. "Don't do anything to hurt yourself if you can help it," he told her. "I hurt you and I don't like how you looked then... do anything you have to not get hurt like that again."_

_Cam had nodded at him. "I will," she'd told him. "Just don't make me have to give you helping hand in that pod."_

_John had laughed in response._

_"Dr. McKay?"_ she heard Caldwell ask moments after their radio's started, bringing her out of her memories.

Rodney grunted as he barely looked up from his data-pad. "Go ahead," he answered.

_"Long range sensors have just detected two Wraith cruisers heading this way," _Caldwell told him. _"No doubt coming to investigate why their scout ship was destroyed earlier."_

Cam looked up at that, her eyes widening as she looked at Rodney, seeing his own wide eyes. "What's their ETA?" she asked.

_"Little over an hour," _Caldwell responded. _"And I plan on being long gone by then. What's the status there?"_

Cam shrugged a shoulder as she looked at the laptop screen again, shaking her head at Rodney. She knew the man had been 'playing' with the Ancient sensors that read all the brainwaves, but she highly doubted that that was what Caldwell was asking after.

"He's still in the pod, Colonel," she answered. "Life signs are good. Brainwaves are normal. Respiration and heart-rate are in normal range."

She heard Caldwell sigh. _"Understood," _he answered. _"Just be aware of the time constraints with the Wraith ships approaching. We can't risk being discovered."_

Rodney sighed and nodded, rolling a hand in the gesture that Cam easily recognised as being his prominently used one for 'hurry up!'. "Yes, yes," he said. "Ticking clock. Anything else?"

_"If he's not out of there in thirty minutes, disconnect him manually."_

The man clicked off then and Cam shared a look with Rodney...

A-A-A-A-A-A

Arethusawalked calmly through the corridors of the _Aurora_, keeping to her watch. After the 'Lieutenant Colonel' had appeared, the security department aboard had agreed that the watches were to be increased until the source of the threat could be identified and dealt with.

Pausing as she ran a hand over her hair, making sure that her brown hair was still in its utilitarian bun, Arethusa watched in surprise as everything around her faded for a split second before another woman stood in front of her.

She wore clothes that Arethusa had long associated with those who were ambassadors for their people, the long skirt of the dress and it's bodice darker than the Ancient's own, off-white clothing. The woman in front of her stood, her eyes closed, even as the Ancient saw that her hair was pulled back in a loose braid, her hair long behind her.

It took a moment before the woman's eyes opened and Arethusa looked at the blue eyes, even as she drew her weapon. The woman's gaze flickered downwards and widened as she raised her hands up into the air.

"Ego ani Tau'ri," she said in Atlantean and Arethusa frowned at that. ["I am Tau'ri."]

"Who are you?" she asked the woman, levelling her weapon at the woman's heart. "What are 'Tau'ri'?"

The woman relaxed slightly. "My name is Camilla Carter, ambassador to the Tok'ra," she answered. "Tau'ri refers to the planet of my birth. Earth. Terra." Arethusa found her eyes widening.

That was what the other intruder had said. That he and his people had come from Earth. Glancing at the woman, Arethusa was surprised by the sleeveless cut to the dress that exposed a tattoo that she had long associated with the Wraith and the Ancient made her mind up.

"Come with me," she said. "I'm taking you to where you need to go."

A-A-A-A-A-A

Sat in the ship version of Atlantis' holding cell, Cam sat, twiddling her thumbs as she waited. She felt Kel'an in her mind, the one thing she was thankful that the Ancient programming made it possible for her close friend to reside within her.

**_That could have gone better, _**Kel'an muttered.

Cam rolled her eyes at that, shaking her head. _It could also have gone worse, _she told her friend. _At least we are still able to talk. _Cam frowned then. _How are you perceiving things?_

Kel'an chuckled. **_It is a rather interesting mix between the virtual environment and the backs of your eyelids, _**she replied before Cam felt the distinct sensation that her friend was frowning. **_Can you hear that?_**

Cam looked up as she heard the door in front of her hissing open, revealing three men, two carrying another limp form between them and it didn't take Cam long to recognise the messy hair. She got to her feet before she raised her hands as one of the men raised their weapon at her.

She bowed her head and stepped to the side, a silent 'invitation' to let them inside. She watched as the cell door shuddered before lifting up, light flickering across it's surface as the two Ancient men walked into the cell and unceremoniously dropped John's body to the floor. Ignoring the guards, Cam moved to her friend quickly, kneeling on the floor to check him over.

Hearing the cell door slide back down, she allowed herself a glare at the men. "And to think that I respect the knowledge and wisdom of the Alterans that reside in my mind," she said, letting them hear her. "Mai'tac Altera."

She moved carefully, lifting John's body up onto the bench before she sat down, holding his head in her lap as she did what futile little she could to help the man wake.

A-A-A-A-A-A

John woke with a start, tensing when he didn't recognise where he was even as he remembered the stunner blast that had hit him. While it wasn't as bad as Ronon's weapon, his body tingled in pain and he groaned softly, even as he felt a hand carding gently though his hair.

He frowned at that.

"Camilla?" he asked quietly.

He received a chuckle in response. "Wondered when you'd wake up," she said and John groaned as he shifted until he was sitting beside her. "Took you long enough."

He pinched the bridge of his nose as he sighed. "Least Ronon didn't shoot me," he muttered.

Camilla chuckled again, even as the pilot heard the familiar sound of the Ancient door in front of the cell opening, letting in a mildly upset voice.

"-ere are you taking me?" the voice was saying. "I told you - I'm with Colonel Sheppard and Camilla Carter. I'm a member of Colonel Sheppard's team. Colonel John Sheppard?"

John paused and opened his eyes, taking in the sight of McKay walking backwards into the room, his hands raised as he tried to talk with the two security guards that John had sadly gotten to know very well. It also looked as though the scientist was dressed in clothing similar to his, including the off-white colour and style.

With that thought, he looked to Camilla, arching an eyebrow at the long skirted dress she wore. While darker than the usual off-white he'd seen, he was surprised at the lack of sleeves. Camilla rolled her eyes in answer and John looked back at McKay in time to see him turn around and pause.

"Oh," was all the scientist managed to say.

A-A-A-A-A-A

Lantash paced the small corridor, moving between the three pods that housed his sister, his team leader and a team member. Lantash knew he wasn't entirely upset or angry, but Martouf's emotions were influencing his beyond what he normally felt.

Teyla and Ronon Dex were stood at McKay's pod as well as Camilla's and Lantash sighed as made his twelfth trip, remembering the words that Dr. McKay had said before Teyla had sent him into the neural network.

_"...If I do not regain consciousness, go ahead and open Colonel Sheppard and Camilla's pods. Have all of us beamed directly to the _Daedalus _and make sure they have a medical team standing by."_

Both Lantash and Martouf refused to think on the possibility on their friend and their sister never waking up from the neural network, but they could only applaud the man for thinking ahead on an obviously unwanted outcome. He glanced at Dr. McKay's pod and noticed the moisture misting on the inside of the stasis pod, something that looked stronger and 'worse' on both Camilla's and Colonel Sheppard's pods.

"Ten thousand years in one of these things, kept alive by life support," Ronon muttered from where he stood, leaning over one of the stasis pods, his hands pressing against the metal wall as he looked inside at the Ancient there. "I couldn't live that way."

Teyla shook her head. "Neither could I," she agreed.

Lantash sighed, remembering the events that had led him to spending close to a year without Martouf, even as he remembered what his host had gone through in the intervening time. **"My host was in stasis for a time," **he offered them. **"Granted, it was not as long as ten thousand years, but..."**

Lantash drifted off as he heard his radio activate. _"Dr. McKay, what's your status?" _Caldwell asked.

The Tok'ra felt his eyes widening in panic, something he saw mirrored on Teyla's face. "Dr. McKay is not here," the Athosian woman responded as she looked down at the stasis pod containing the man in question.

_"What?!"_

"He had to..." the woman began before Ronon sighed and activated his radio.

"He had to check something on the Wraith pod," the Satedan told Caldwell.

Grinning at the Satedan, he saw Teyla smirking, even as she nodded. "Yes," she agreed. "The Wraith pod. He had to check the bio-metrics receiver. He needed to reconfirm the frequencies of the neural feedback loop."

Lantash covered his host's mouth as he did his best to stifle his laughter as the two Pegasus Galaxy natives gave Caldwell the run-around. _"Why isn't he on his radio?"_

Teyla tilted her head for a moment, seeming to think. "Well, actually, we have been having trouble reaching him ourselves," she offered. "I think it might have something to do with the...um..." Lantash watched as Teyla floundered for a moment as she looked back down at Dr. McKay's pod and seemed to relax slightly, "the magnetic shielding of the pods."

Ronon nodded, a smirk on his face. "Yeah," he muttered. "Shielding."

If Lantash had not known that the two were doing their best to get more time for both Dr. McKay and Colonel Sheppard to finish their work – even as Lantash waited for his sister – he would have been hard–pressed to believe that the two were not saying something genuine as they waited for Dr. McKay to come into contact with them once more.

"Ronon was about to go check on him," Teyla offered calmly. "See what is taking him so long."

Caldwell seemed to sigh. _"Alright, go get him," _he said. _"Light a fire under him."_

Ronon grinned in response, even as Teyla nodded again. "Right away," she agreed.

_"I want a status report as soon as his radio's working again. Caldwell out."_

The second that Lantash heard the man cut the communication, he let out his laughter in a small bark of amusement, even as Ronon grinned.

"Nice stalling," the Satedan offered.

A-A-A-A-A-A

Sat in the _Aurora's_ Brig, John watched as Rodney did the same, letting himself sit with a groan on his left as Camilla shifted slightly on his right.

"Have you been unable to disconnect yourself from the system?" Rodney asked him.

John shook his head. He hadn't felt like he'd lost that ability, he'd just been a bit busy."No!" he answered. "I'm still trying to get the information on that communiqué."

Rodney sighed. "Oh good," he said. "We thought maybe it was preventing you from exiting the program."

John frowned as he looked at the scientist. "'It'?" he asked.

He hoped there wasn't a bug in the system. John had no idea what that would do to the neural network and he, quite frankly, didn't want to find out any time soon. He felt Camilla stiffen next to him and he watched as Rodney seemed to fold in on himself.

"We found a Wraith in one of the stasis pods," he answered. "It's manipulating the neural feedback program. Your EEG patterns were irregular."

Camilla snorted then. "Yours would be, as well, Rodney," she said, "if you had been stunned like the good Colonel here."

Rodney nodded at that. "I didn't want to risk pulling either of you out until I knew more," he offered.

John nodded then. "First Officer," he said.

Rodney frowned and He felt Camilla tensing beside him. "What about him?" the Tok'ra asked.

John shook his head, remembering Trebal. "Her," he corrected her. "She's a Wraith; has to be." He shook his head again. "There's something very odd about here and she keeps preventing me from talking to the Captain."

Rodney's frown deepened. "The Wraith we found was male," he said. "The First Officer must have been female; took her place."

John nodded. "She knows I want that information and the Captain's the only one with access to it," he said.

Rodney grinned then, a manic grin that had John worrying for a moment. "We don't need the Captain," he said. "I've been able to decipher enough of the program to overwrite the protocols. All I have to do is get to terminal within the virtual environment and I should be able to access any files stored within the database."

"So we just need to break out of here," John muttered.

He'd dealt with worse prognosis. He was about to deal with another. "Hold that thought," Rodney told him.

With that, the scientist disappeared from view and John shook his head.

"Well," Camilla breathed. "Well I never. And no goodbye."

John snorted at that and shook his head again, this time pausing as he heard the sound of the forcefield around the cell dropping seconds before the door opened. He stood slowly and offered a hand to Camilla as he moved towards the open door, freezing when the guards stepped inside and raised their weapons at him.

Moving in front of the Tok'ra, he watched as the two men took several, meaningful steps towards them before collapsing in a heap. Moving to one side to get a better look, John felt he program shift slightly before Rodney appeared beside him.

"Nice timing," he told the scientist, grinning all the way.

A-A-A-A-A-A

Cam moved to the Ancient terminal and set to work, navigating the systems with relative ease, letting the Ancient knowledge do some of the work as she coded her way through the Alteran system in front of her. It took several seconds before she started to swear.

It took her even longer to pull her anger under control. "The communiqué's been erased," she said through gritted teeth. "There's nothing in the file."

She closed her eyes and moved away from the console as Rodney moved over and the woman let Kel'an take control, closing her eyes for a moment before Kel'an opened them to the world.

**"Now I am mad," **she said.

A-A-A-A-A-A

As the Captain of the _Aurora_, Brul had a lot of responsibility weighing on his shoulders. More, in these last few hours, as more and more intruders appeared in the ship. He had the communiqué that had to get back to Atlantis and he refused to believe the claims of the first male intruder, not even when a woman and another man appeared.

Trebal cleared her throat quietly and Brul turned to look at her, seeing the Alteran datapad in her hands. "Hyperdrive modification commands have been successfully entered," she said softly. "Auxiliary power is now online."

Brul nodded in acknowledgement. "Very good," he said. "Prepare to engage drive."

"Stop!" "Comdo, desina!" ["Please, stop!"]

The words spoken in High Alteran got Brul's attention as he looked to the entrance to the bridge, seeing both the man and the woman there, the man carrying a weapon as the woman walked calmly, her hands out to her sides, her eyes glowing as two balls of energy floated at her palms.

The man moved to stand just in front of the woman as he lowered his weapon slightly, even as Brul was aware that everyone else on the bridge had drawn their own weapons. "Your First Officer is a Wraith," the man said. "She's using you."

"Security to the Bridge," Brul heard Trebal order softly into her comm. unit.

The woman behind the man moved slightly, her eyes still glowing. "The Wraith gained access to this virtual environment by killing your First Officer," she said gently. "Your First Officer is dead, the Wraith in her place."

"She's getting you to modify your Hyperdrive so that she can upgrade the Wraith Hyperdrive," the man continued.

"Don't listen to them, sir," Trebal hissed at him.

"They need to modify their Hyperdrives so that they may make it to our planet," the woman said firmly. "We call it Earth, you call it Terra. I think we all agree that we do not wish the Wraith to get there."

Trebal shook her head as Brul looked at her. "This is nonsense," she muttered.

The man shook his head. "I'm telling you, she is a Wraith," he said firmly.

Brul shook his head, settling hisd gaze on the man and his companion. "Officer Trebal has served with me for many years," he told them. "I can't possibly believe tha–"

"Sir," Trebal interrupted. "With your permission I'd like t–"

Brul watched in astonishment as his First Officer froze and started convulsing. For a few seconds, the man watched as the entirety of what he was seeing shifted like a data–point screen having problems before it seemed to clear, but Trebal continued to convulse before her face faded and merged with that of what Brul knew to be a Wraith. Staring at what Brul had once called his First Officer, he watched as she finally faded from view with a resounding snap.

Brul looked back to the two intruders, seeing the woman relaxing as the glow disappeared from her eyes and the energy faded from her hands, leaving behind bloodied palms. "I hope that proof enough," the man said.

A-A-A-A-A-A

John stood beside the _Aurora_'s Captain, Camilla beside him as she wrapped her hands with several mutters in both Ancient and Goa'uld. He had no doubt that outside, in the pod, her hands were dripping blood, but he hoped otherwise, for both her and Kel'an's sakes.

He'd formally introduced himself and Camilla to the Captain, even as they now looked out on the starry–scope in front of them. "All this time I thought we had evaded the enemy," the Captain said. "Instead, I've been unwittingly assisting them."

Camilla shook her head. "No, you haven't," she told him. "The Wraith aboard hasn't succeeded."

John nodded his agreement. "Please, tell us the information in the communiqué," he said. "We may be able to defeat the Wraith once and for all."

The Captain nodded. "The information is in the ship's computer," he said. "I can give you my access codes."

John shook his head. "We checked," he told the Ancient. "Can't you tell me yourself?"

The Captain shook his head. "I'm afraid I was never made aware of its contents, Colonel Sheppard," he said sadly. "The Council feared the possibility of our capture was too great. The information in that communiqué is gone." He sighed then, running a hand through his short hair. "Ten thousand years... Even in stasis, our physical bodies must be..."

John sighed and nodded, understanding the man's words. "Very old," he finished for him. "Too old."

The Air Force Pilot watched as the Captain turned slightly to look at everyone on the Bridge, all of them focused intently on their jobs, unaware of what was being said. "My crew deserves to know," he said.

Camilla nodded and reached out to touch the Captain gently on his shoulder. "They do, yes," she agreed quietly. "But we do not have all the time available to us."

John nodded at that. "There are two Wraith ships on the way," he said.

The Captain continued to look at the people on the Bridge and John felt for the man. "We longed for nothing more than returning to Atlantis," he said softly. "To raise a toast to our home and victory." His blue gaze moved back to him and John watched him closely. "We may not return home, but we'll do whatever we can to ensure that victory. For that, I will need your help."

Camilla raised a hand, pausing the Captain. "Might I be able to access one of your data–points?" she asked. "I will need to gather some information and now is the only time I might be able to do that."

A-A-A-A-A-A

Martouf stood on the bridge of the _Daedalus_, worry filling him as he watched the Tau'ri ship prepare to fight, the Ancient battle ship in front of them and the two Wraith Hive's further beyond. His sister was still on the Ancient ship and he was well and truly afraid that Caldwell would open fire on the ship despite that fact.

_"_Daedalus_, this is Sheppard," _the ship's radio chirped. _"We're ready."_

Caldwell nodded. "Beam them directly to the bridge," he ordered.

Martouf relaxed as three beams of light manifested on the bridge and as soon as the lights were clear, both he and Camilla moved to embrace the other. He ignored her bloodied palms as he held her. He had come far too close to losing her again and he was certain any more missions with his sister would result in something terminal for him.

"Targets are in range," one of the technicians said.

Sheppard shook his head. "Sir, we really need to get out of here," he said.

"We need to eliminate those cruisers," Caldwell told him firmly. "The informati–"

McKay shook his head and waved his hands. "No–no–no–no, we need to get far away," he said.

"What?"

Camilla shook her head. "The Wraith on the ship is dead," she said. "But the Captain gave the codes for the self–destruct sequence. We need to get out of here."

"He assures me that it will take care of the Wraith ships so," Sheppard said. "But we need to get clear."

Martouf frowned at that and watched as Caldwell seemed to think things over before he nodded and turned to one of his men. "Bring the sub–light engines to military thrust," he ordered.

A-A-A-A-A-A

Sat in Dr. Weir's office off of the Ancestral Ring's Control Room, Ronon Dex watched the others, seeing both Martouf and his sister leaning against one of the walls, both of them dressed as casually as he had ever seen them, even as the others spoke.

"We monitored all transmissions from the Wraith cruisers prior to that explosion," McKay was saying, the man somehow managing to lack his usual impatience. "They never got a chance to board the _Aurora_ or upload any of the Ancient information."

Caldwell nodded from where he was stood at another wall in the office as Dr, Weir sat at her desk. "Both cruisers were destroyed in the explosion," he said. "No life–signs were picked up afterwards."

Ronon sighed then. "It's too bad we weren't able to figure out the Wraith weakness," he said.

Sheppard nodded from where he was sat in one of the many chairs in the room. "At least we found out they had one," he said softly.

Dr. Weir sighed sadly and nodded. "Good work," she said. "Thank you, everyone."

As Ronon shifted to get to his feet, he watched as Sheppard stiffened. "Uh, before we break up the party, there's something I'd like to do," he said before he shifted slightly and reached down for a dark green bottle that Ronon had seen the man carry into the room.

Ronon stood, watching as Dr. Weir wordlessly stood and reached for a metal tray holding a number of glasses, even as he saw Sheppard standing.

"Might seem a little strange," the Colonel said. "But I promised to do something when we got home."

Ronon took a glass from the tray that Dr, Weir offered to him, watching as the others did the same while Sheppard removed the top of the bottle. Holding the glass beside Teyla's and the others as the Colonel poured into all the glasses.

As soon as he was done filling them all, Ronon watched as Sheppard took one from Weir while he set down the bottle. The man paused for a moment before he raised his glass.

"To the crew of the _Aurora_," he said.

Ronon mimicked Caldwell and the others from Earth as the gently tapped the glasses together before they pulled back. The Satedan paused in drinking his to take a quiet sniff and a small taste before he downed the rest of the drink. He felt for the Ancients that had died on their ship, never to return to the City,. He felt for them, much like he did for his fellow Satedans that had died.

A-A-A-A-A-A

John paused outside Camilla's quarters, unsure of whether or not he'd be welcome inside, but swung his right arm over the sensor. It took a moment, but he heard a chime from inside before the doors opened seconds later. He saw Camilla there and he smiled slightly.

"Thought you could do with some company," he told her.

When he saw the smile that drifted across her face, the pilot felt his neck heating up slightly. **"It is admirable, Colonel, that you thought so," **Kel'an said. **"Camilla is currently asleep. But please, come in."**

John nodded and stepped inside, hearing the doors close behind him. He'd never been in the Tok'ra's quarters, but he was amazed at the sight of the woven tapestries hanging on the walls as well as several paintings. Kel'an chuckled from where she stood at a coffee table in the room, holding an earthenware mug in her hands.

**"The tapestries are considered signs of status," **she told him as she reached for another mug and stepped over to him, holding it out to him. **"Some of the paintings hanging were bought, others Camilla made."**

John took the mug and took a sip of the alcohol inside, arching an eyebrow at one of the pictures around him. Kel'an smiled gently and nodded at the picture. John looked at it a little closer and saw the hesitation marks that came from an artist working on something themselves and he nodded.

"She's really good," he said. "Has she worked on anything else?"

Kel'an chuckled and smiled. **"She has," **she said. **"But, I believe she is waiting to be done doing all of them before she begins to consider showing them to anyone."**

John frowned at that. "How many is she planning on drawing?" he asked.

Kel'an shrugged a shoulder in a manner that he knew wasn't Camilla. **"At the last count, some four to five hundred," **she answered blithely. **"She has already done some twenty, but she has a lot more to go."**

John frowned as he looked at the Tok'ra. "You sure you can't show me?" he asked.

The Tok'ra seemed torn and she bit her lip before she nodded. She placed her mug down and the pilot watched as she moved to a lower chest of drawers, opening one before pulling something out. It took a few seconds, but John watched as she flipped through a sheaf of paper before removing one piece.

**"I do not think she will mind if you see this one," **Kel'an muttered as she walked back over.

Taking the paper when she held it out to him, John froze at the sight that met him. The Captain of the _Aurora _looked out at him, a small smile on the man's face, beneath it, written in English stood the words 'Captain Brul of the Ancient ship _Aurora_, may he and his men never be forgotten for their sacrifice.'

He looked at it in awe before he smiled slightly. The Ancient had been denied the chance to return to his home, to get his people their last wish. But this picture meant that he and his people would live on in the memories of everyone.

"It's fitting," he said. "Not entirely, but it's the best."

* * *

This is the second chapter (obviously) so I hope that this lives up to the standards everyone's used to. If not, please do let me know. I look forward to reading everyone's reviews. :D

Until next time!


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